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Andurand
Andurandflagfeild.png|Flag of Andurand The Nation of progress, markets, and mercantilism. Andurand is one of the smaller nations and is located on the southwestern coast of Anatole. Andurand's people can be fairly varied, but for the most part adopt a creed of high work ethic, self-reliance, and innovation. Andurand's cities are usually bustling and full of shops, merchants, traders, and workshops. Geography and Climate Andurand is divided into two main types of geographic zones; mountainous and coastal plains. Its' mountainous region plays host to some of the worlds most productive mines and quarries, and is supposedly where the crystals used in the crystalis process were originally discovered. This regions also hold the capital of Andurand. The Coastal regions are fairly unfit for port cities with a high abundance of cliffs, shallow beaches, and dangerous rock formations dotting the coast. Its' southern tip, however, is a little more suitable and has some fairly lucrative port cities. The mountain run off provides nutrients for deep forest in the region, which in turn supplies Andurand with an abundance of lumber resources. The forest in Andurand are mostly old growth, coniferous forests filled with pines, cypress, and other evergreens. This does leave little in the way of farm land though and ensures that Andurand must import at least a portion of their food supplies. The coastal regions, though rocky, are home to many similar forest though broken up by small plains. The climate of Andurand is mostly humid continental, though their southern portion can see very harsh winters. The northern regions of Andurand are often ideal for agriculture, at least where it can be grown, for it experiences warm summers and a mildly cold winter with rainfall happening fairly often. Culture Andurand is a nation of pruducers, buyers, and sellers. Due to this, Andurand has one of the largest and complex economies of it's size. Home to powerful merchants guilds and large, continent expanding trading networks, Andruand can be said to be one of, if not the, wealthiest nation in the world. This comes from the Ideology of those who first came to the region to settle it: Prosperity, progress, and production. These tenets are what the nation of Andurand were founded upon, and to this day a representation of this can be seen on their flag "From blood and Stone comes prosperity". This is actually a Creotan proverb meaning that those with the means and the capability are capable of anything Andurand's people are a hard working, but fair bunch. As such their laws are riddled with rules concerning pocession, labor, and theft. These laws tend to favor those who have the coin to trade or produce, but do very little for those who are unable to do so. An Andurandie would argue though, that the poor are poor due to their own machinations and no other. For the most part, people agree with this. There is, however, a not insubstantial portion of the population whom feel as if they are simply being preyed upon by those whom have the coin to do so. Either way, Andurand does have the means to support innovation, progress, and boot-strap upwards mobility. Anduranie people tend to be fiercely patriotic as well. They hold their country in very high esteem and rightfully so. This does make critisms and cultural progression a bit hampered though, and has lead to some harsh criticisms from other countries, particularly their neighbor, Roiscaise. Andurandie writers respond to these criticisms in a very disregarding way, often dismissing other's assumptions as naught but trivial misunderstanding at best, and open envy at worst. The arts of Andurand are fairly sparce, but extremely positive in their subject. Paintings will often represent characters on a path to prosperity or glory. Their writings usually contain morals about hard work, ethic, and the rewards of such over time. Their statues consist of fit persons often either in the pose of some sort of innovation or production. Government Andurand is a mercantile Republic. This means that all of their leaders are chosen through a process of elections. This allows the people to have a voice in the laws that are upheld within the nation. The first government of it's kind it has received very harsh critiques from other countries. These critics often point out that though they do have an election process, those who can vote are those who own land and are registered within a guild. Of course in true Andurandie fashion, these critics go either ignored or replied to with patriotic verbiage. Despite their critiques, Andurand government has been fairly efficient at what it set out to do: ensure that the country prospers. It does so by protecting and investing in private merchants or in the general economy. To the Andurand government, trade and the economy is just as much part of the state as the political scene. As such, Andurand has certian policies that help out large guilds in order to encourage trade, innovation, and production. This also comes with a large demand for labor. This labor has been supplied , for the most part, by a rapid urban migration. Many poor, rural farmers or lumber workers have found that the profit and job security is much higher in these high production cites as opposed to the rural towns. Acknowledging this fact, the Andurand government proceeded to offer incentives to agricultural producers so that ever bit of viable land could be used in food production in an effort to support the growing working class. Incentives are also given to production guilds over those who would sell raw materials. This ensures that the exportation of finished goods stays on the forefront of Andurandie trade. Though Andurand has interests in collonies on Shahara, the raw materials it needs for productions are supplied, for the most part, by mainland trade with Titania and Astrellas.